Dr. Daniel Babu Paul

BABU PAUL

Profile

Dr. Daniel Babu Paul, a former member of the Indian Administrative Service who served in the Chief Secretary’s rank for six years and retired in the rank of a High Court Judge as the Ombudsman of Kerala, can truly be called a multifaceted personality. A writer, orator, and lexicographer, he excels in all the respective fields. Babu Paul's personality is such that he was a research guide, research scholar, and Ph.D. Examiner, all in same period.

Born to Rt. Rev. Paulose Kor Episcopa, a priest of the Syrian Orthodox Church for sixty years and Headmaster of MGM School for 32 years, who read Bhagavat Gita along with the Bible daily and was proud of the Indian cultural heritage of which the ancient Christian community in Kerala was an equal inheritor despite change in faith, and Mary Paul, a state rank holder of 1920s who later became a teacher, Babu Paul was brought up in strong Christian faith and loyalty to Indian traditions and culture.

His father instilled in him the need to take pride in Indian culture. His mother indoctrinated him with the fact that fasting and prayers are the arms of a true Christian. His paternal grandmother acquainted him with the world of folklore and maternal grandmother initiated him into the stories of the Bible. Babu Paul remembers that it was all these that moulded him.

Though a sought after public speaker and well known apolitical leader who despite known views against religious conversion is accepted and respected by Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike, he seldom misses church on Sundays and has been a servant at the Altar since age 5, perhaps the senior-most Altar Boy in church. Babu Paul, a senior officer of Indian Administrative Service, serving as a genteel minister in church's altar remind Keralite Christians of Justice K K Lukose and Ambassador A M Thomas of the earlier generations and Brahmins compare him with Dr. Sambasivan, the famous neurosurgeon in Kerala, who doubles up as Pujari in temples. Babu Paul is the only recipient of the highest honour bestowed on laymen in the Syrian Orthodox Church, DECORATION OF THE HOLY GHOST with the title BAR ETO BRIRO. He was a member of the Patriarchal Delegation to Vatican in 1984 for the ecumenical summit between the Pope and the Patriarch.